jessh1969

My Feedback: (1)

A couple of weekends ago I was at our local field and saw a Nextstar fly. It had the AFS and speedbrakes removed, but was very stable and slowed down great. Since I was looking for a glow trainer for my eight year old I thought I would look into it. I read all the posts and most everyone seems to like the plane, but not the AFS. Ok....I thought I would try it out. Down to the LHS and I got one at a good price. My son and I put it together in about 15 minutes, then we went in to try the simulator. We played, ...err "practiced" on it for awhile.

When we got out to the field the next day the wind was blowing 5-10. NOT the best conditions to try it out. We fired it up and ran some gas through it to check out the engine. It was set too rich and would die on translation from low to high. even adjusting the "limiter" all the way CW. We took it off and found that just a few clicks more was perfect. I flew the first 2 flights with the AFS unhooked to trim it out and see how it flew. It took quite a bit of down trim (I think due to the speed brakes), but other than that it was great in the air. I then turned on the AFS "just to try it out". After all the bad posts, I was afraid that it would be a handful, but it wasn't. I had left it set at the default 35% and it worked as advertised. It was a little different having to hold it in the bank, but I never had any sense of the plane "fighting" me.

After I landed, we refueled and hooked up the buddy box. I set him up and we worked on left and right hand turns. Next time out we will work on developing landing approaches. IT was fun.

To sum it up. The plane goes together easily. Everything was tight and the CG dead one. All the throws were set correctly. Plane flew great w/o the AFS and with the AFS. Landings are slow and easy. Best of all, we left the field with everything in the same condition as when we got there!

Jess

Commander_Drake

My Feedback: (2)

Thanks for the first hand information. I'm sure many will appreciate it!

Bax

My Feedback: (11)

The main key with the AFS in the Hobbico NexSTAR is to not have it turned on too much. Many fliers like it just on enough that the model will lazily return to level fligh when the controls are released. You most certainly don't want it to "snap" to level!

During training, the AFS should be gradually dialed down until it's virtually off. You won't want it to become a crutch, where the novice can't fly without it.

dkf1979

Yeah thanks for this post. I have a Nexstar that I haven't been able to fly yet. Good to hear an actual positive review on the AFS.

tailskid

My Feedback: (34)

I thought the plane flew better (for a newbie) with the speed Brakes on.....what do you guys think?

Jerry

SENZA

I never flew it with ether, ifixairplanes was my instructor and he didnt care for it so he removed it before i took it.i have to say it flys great and has plenty of power to get you out of any mess.who nows i might have liked it but im stile green maybe once i feel a little bit more confident i will hook it up and see.at any rate i think i made a good choice for a beginner plane.i recommend it to any one starting out......... chk out my post best flying day yet there were two nexstars there nice pictures